Successful weekend so far but bottling?

[alanywiseman.]

Managed to rack 2 gallons of WOW and bottled 44 bottles of pale ale. It took me about 3-4 hours to do the lot. Seems like a bit too long. How long does it take you to bottle your beer?

Me method was to seteralise, rinse then dry in an oven at 100 C then bottle and cap? Is this a bit of overkill?

 

[Nunfa1]

I just sterilise and rinse, don't bother drying them. A no rinse steriliser such as videne combined with a bottle tree and rinser attached makes the whole process much easier. A little bottler or bottling stick is also a must have.

 

[Eric_S]

Bottling is always a long winded process; I soak my bottles in steriliser (already cleaned and washed once previously), then transfer to another container with just hot water, then finally rince once again in the sink before filling. Can normally do 1 FV's worth in about 2 hours start to finish. I use a bottling stick rather than a little bottler but essentially the same thing.

Using Cornies is considerably faster, but there is a pleasure to popping of the top of a fresh bottle of chilled bottled beer.

 

[PintofPride]

Don't forget any rinsing must be done with boiled water and for that reason I just make sure they're clean, like any of the stuff in my kitchen cupboards, and chuck them in the oven for an hour at 170 C, maybe a bit higher for good measure. This is the right heat and time to sterilise them. I also put tinfoil over the tops before they go in so they can sit about until i need them without rick of infection.

Cleaning all the other stuff takes a while though and I find a racking cane to be a god send. If you're siphoning into your bottles or bottling bucket or both, i think having a bigger height gradient between the two containers makes it go faster.

 

[bobsbeer]

Tap water in the UK is fine to rinse with. No need to use boiled water in my opinion. While I agree bottling is my least favorite bit of HB, I have managed to get the process somewhat speeded up. I use a bottle rinsing attachment on my kitchen tap and a bottle tree and steraliser as mentioned by Nunfa. I use thin bleach as the steraliser, but Videne would eliminate the final rinse. I rinse, steralise, rinse and put on the tree. I can prepare 30 wine bottles in about 45 mins that way and so far no infection problems. If I used Videne it would probably knock the time down to 30 mins. I used to syphon into the bottles to fill, but now use a Little Bottler which is easier and less messy, but means you need to steralise the bin and rack the wine/beer into the bin before you bottle.

 

[Shayler]

I clean them with bleach, then before i bottle into them i rinse them out with tap water

 

[alanywiseman.]

Seems like it is going to just take practise. I am definitely going to need to invest in a bottling stick though.

Currently I use a funnel with a length of tubing attached to reach the bottom of the bottle then will with a jug. My next brew is on so in 2-3 weeks it will be time to bottle again and fingers crossed it goes a bit quicker.

 

[lovelldr]

I bottled my first brew last week, and did so before starting work. Thinking it wouldn't take too long... Was I wrong . Started the process at 8.10. Had an hour and half. Thought that was plenty. Sterilised FV to rack in to and all equipment. Them, got the bottles washed. Then, sterilised the bottles (1.5l plastic pet bottles for this one). Then, racked in to FV adding sugar. Then, rinsed bottles. At this point, it was already 9.40! So, still had to put in bottles! Work could wait... Finally finished about 10.20. So, just over 2 hours. Not bad I guess, just I didn't expect to be so long... Drag to think how long will take when using glass bottles...

 

[pittsy]

i bottled last week , first time in many years and after about 2 hours including cleaning bottles i remembered why i keg my brews , but i still got to bottle another brew next week as i've no more kegs left ,oh well :grin:

 

[Wolverine]

Get one of these they are great it will speed things up big time

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/ind ... ucts_id=61